


Throughout the years

by CloudBusting85



Category: Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)
Genre: A look at their friendship over the years, Childhood Friends, How April and Sterling became friends, Sterling and Blair and their twin shenanigans!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27029035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudBusting85/pseuds/CloudBusting85
Summary: My take on April and Sterlings friendship from the beginning of kindergarten to the ‘giving away of April in 5th grade’ interspersed amongst current day chapters dealing with the aftermath of the lockin and the changes that occur in both Sterling and Aprils lives.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 50





	1. No time for goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea in my head for a while and then I saw the news and was devastated. I’ve never had so much inspiration before so I decided to give this brain idea a go!It’s taken me a few weeks to iron out exactly where I want the story to go.The chapters will alternate between current day April and Elementary school aged April and the development of her friendship with Sterling.Although there are a few planned chapters that are from Sterlings point of view.I hope this isn’t too complicated! But don’t worry,I’ll make sure in the summary to explain what's going on so people hopefully don't get too lost. The length of the chapters will vary in terms of word count just because the way I've planned the chapters mean that some will be longer than others.
> 
> Thanks for reading and enjoy.

Chapter 1- No time for goodbyes

To say April was distraught would be an understatement,she was utterly devastated and she was doing her best to suppress the rage and anger that was burning inside her with an almighty strength. It was five months after everything that had happened at the lock in,Sterling and Blair had missed weeks of school and rumours had spread.Then when the hopes of possibly seeing the twins back at school were high,they were quickly dashed by her father,who started to make claims that it was the twins who had created these false allegations that had been placed against him previously,April had wondered why he had suddenly gained an interest in the girls.He said that they had been the ones to trespass onto his property and arrest him and deviant and unladylike manor. Of course April didn’t know what to believe anymore,but she knew what everyone in town would believe.

Her father held so much power and social standing that he could declare that the moon was made of cheese and people would begin to believe him.She wished that he would use this power he had for good,rather than attempting to control in every aspect of life,for a man whole spoke so highly about the power and strength of the almighty God and how April should remember that God should always be the most important thing in her life,he acted like he was more important than anyone else.The spreading of these rumours totally destroyed the Wesley family and the girls never returned to school opting to be homeschooled instead,of course there were still people who talked to them but the Wesley families social circle had become very narrow and niche.April had wished she could have gone round to speak to them to ask them what was going on and just to see how they were but she wasn’t about to defy her father,despite what Sterling told her she wasn’t brave enough to defy her father,so she would just have to continue to be the picture perfect daughter in a picture perfect family with a picture perfect life. 

But then much to Aprils relief this power and control and the self righteous attitude that her father had developed all came crashing down a few weeks previous,when a women that her father worked with came forward to say that she had experienced threatening and harassing behaviour from him at work.At first her father did what he always did,denied these allegations, twisted them to make it seem like she was trying to make him seem immoral.He used everything in his power to totally destroy her social credibility.

April was surprised and almost empowered by the fact that the woman stood her ground then much to everyone's surprise two more women came forward making similar allegations and that was the end of her father's lies. Everyone turned against her father and rightly so she thought,he could not go unpunished for what he had done,but what she wasn't anticipating was the glares and looks as she walked through school,why was she being punished for her father's actions?

They had given her a week's notice,a week's notice that they were moving and that she was to pack her things up and be ready to leave. Hannah B had cried on the phone for a solid hour when April wrung her in tears about having to move.Her last week at Willingham was a blur,it wasn’t like any of the other occasions where people would move away,usually everyone would wish them well,but April felt she might have well have been cheered out of the school grounds by the whispering and glares that she was getting.

It was just simple.“I’m going to miss you so much .” from Hannah B,who had been told by her parents to not associate with April but had found her just as she was leaving to hug her goodbye and a “Stay in touch now,don’t be a stranger.” from Ezequiel who said goodbye to her as she was leaving the canteen at lunch.

April wished she had valued her friends more and treated them better when she had the chance,because now when the future was so uncertain she wished she would have had them by her side and she hoped Hannah B and Ezequiel knew how much she loved them.

April stood in her room filling the last box with things,when she came across her old jewellery box that had the jewellery she used to wear when she was little,nothing too expensive or fancy incase she might break it . She looked through it,there were necklaces she had got from her parents for Christmas and a bracelet that she had got for her 8th birthday and there right at the bottom was a small guardian angel pin that her mother had given her on her first day of Kindergarten and when she saw the pin she knew exactly what she needed to do with it.

She quickly went about writing the letter and placed it alongside the pin inside an envelope and told her parents she was going out for a quick walk.She approached the house,she held onto it for a second eyes closed wishing things could be different she placed the envelope in the letterbox and swiftly walked away,wherever she was going next she really hoped that God would be by her side because she felt like she needed his strength more than anything.


	2. May God be with you always.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April starts her first day of Kindergarten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another chapter,hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2- May God be with you always.

She looked in the mirror at herself,in her crisp clean new uniform,today would be her first day of proper school and there was no reason to be scared because she would make loads of friends.Then she could come home later and tell her mommy and daddy all about how amazing school was and she could tell them all the things she did that day and they would say “ Wow April you are the cleverest person on this earth.” April told herself trying to prepare herself for school,her stomach hurt not the same type of pain like when you eat too much chocolate before bed or the same feeling like when you've got the flu,it was a feeling that she she didn’t yet have the vocabulary to articulate but all she knew is was she wanted it to go away.

What she wanted to do was cry and have her mother comfort her,but they had had a conversation the previous night when she was having her nightime story and being tucked into bed that now she was going into Kindergarten she was too big to cry at silly things like going to school because she would have so much fun that she would quickly forget about how much she missed her parents. April finished talking to herself and preparing herself for the day ahead,she finished up tying her tie,she was determined to be able to tie a real tie,not have one of the clip on ones and so she had practised all summer to get it perfect.

She headed down stairs to put her shoes on and get her coat.

“There she is my precious little baby girl for her first day at school, you go show them just how wonderful you are.” April's mom said.

“Do me proud.” said April's father and he patted her on the head.

“Daddy you're going to mess up my hair.”exclaimed April as she patted down her hair to make sure that there were no wispy bits or flyaways,she wouldn’t want to look scruffy on her first day would she.

“I’ll see you later,remember to work hard and be good.” her father said as he kissed her goodbye and headed out of the door to work.

“Have you got everything you need?” asked Aprils mom 

“Yes Mommy,I packed my bag yesterday.” replied April.

“Well not everything.” April's mom said as she walked towards April and pinned something on her tie.

April looked down at her tie.

“What is that mommy.” she asked 

“It’s a guardian angel pin,to remind you that wherever you go God will always be with you.”

“Thanks mommy,it's really pretty.” replied April 

“Come on let's go,I don't want you to be late on your first day.” said April's mom as she handed her lunch.

They drove to school and got to the school gates.

“Mommy you can say goodbye to me here,I can find my way.” said April.

“Are your sure sweetie,I can come and help you.” Aprils mom replied

“It’s alright mommy,I can do it.” April said as she kissed her mom goodbye.

“Remember, You are kind,you are smart and you can do anything.” April's mom said as she gave April a hug.

“Bye mommy see you later.” April said as she waved goodbye and started to walk towards the building of the elementary school. April turned back to see her mom standing there,maybe she should have let her mom help her find her class but she wanted to show her mom how grown-up she was,so she would tell her dad and he would be so proud of how big and sensible she was getting. 

April followed the signs to her class,she arrived at the door and was greeted by a teacher.

“Hello,what's your name?” the teacher asked

“I’m April Stevens,” April replied 

The teacher looked at her list.

“Well it's lovely to meet you April,I’m Mrs Evan and I’ll be your teacher why don’t you come into the class room and hang your bag and coat on your peg with your name.” Mrs Evan said

April moved across the room to the coat pegs. She put her coat and bag on her peg and stood there,Mrs Evans hadn’t said what to do next and not knowing what to do made that funny feeling in her stomach come back again and the classroom was so noisy,she wanted to cover her ears to muffle the sound . ‘You are kind,you are smart, you can do anything,” she repeated over and over again in her head until the pain in her stomach felt less forceful and the loudness of the other kids around her got quieter.

This was one of the first of many mantras that April would say to herself to bring her some form of comfort and to give her strength when she felt anxious.They were almost like a form of mental diary,she would never write a real diary or journal and risk having someone snoop on her private thoughts, that's why she liked praying, it was just her talking to God, no one else. Then April noticed that Mrs Evans was saying something.

“Right everyone welcome to kindergarten,I hope you are all ready to do lots of learning this year but also have a lot of fun, I am going to tell everyone which table they are on and then we are going to go through our classroom rules.” 

Mrs Evans went about telling everyone what table to sit on. April was shown her seat and she sat down and got a pencil from the pencil pot and a sticky label from the pile that Mrs Evans had put on her desk.

“Right everyone should now be in your seats, before we begin with the day lets start with a prayer,I don’t expect you to know it because it's a special one that Mr Benson the principle has written for the school but you will begin to learn it as we practise it.” Mrs Evan explained.

Of course April already knew the special prayer because she had spoken to some of the older kids in kids church and asked them what school was like and they had told her about the prayer and she wanted to impress her teacher so she had asked them to teach her.

They then went through the classroom rules and they all had to write their names on the sticky labels and then Mrs Evan stuck them round the display that had the class rules on it ,which meant that everyone promised to follow the class rules.

They then spent the rest of the morning before recess getting to know each other. April had never been shy but all of a sudden she felt shy and scared having to get to know all these new kids but as they talked she felt more comfortable and soon enough she was talking to the kids on her table. 

Going out to recess felt daunting,all these kids running around outside and she didn’t know where to go,she had stayed behind to help the teacher clear away the glues and paints from the craft they had done and so the kids on her table were already outside and she couldn’t see them. 

“Just go and speak to someone,introduce yourself,find a familiar face.” all the words of comfort that her mother had given her the night before came flooding back but she couldn't. She felt like she was stuck on the ground. All of a sudden a girl came flying at her and almost knocked April over.

“I’m sorry.” the girls said.

“That's ok, it was just an accident,I should have moved away quicker.” apologised April

“My sister was trying to karate chop me with her ninja moves and I had to duck out the way.” the girl replied.

“Blair came and say sorry.” the girl said as she beckoned for her sister to come over.

“Do I have to?She's fine, come on, let's keep playing because otherwise you won’t have a chance to defeat the evil ninja lord master before recess is over.” Blair replied 

The girl glared at her sister and Blair walked over.

“Sorry that Sterling nearly hit you,maybe if she wasn’t so clumsy she wouldn't have almost made you fall flat on the floor like a pancake.” Blair said.

“Hey do you want to play with us?” asked Sterling.

“Play your silly ninja game” April questioned

“It's not silly,miss goody two shoes.” said Blair

“Hey that's not nice Blair.” said Sterling 

Blair shrugged and ran off.

“Well let me know if you want to play,that's a really pretty angel pin.” said Sterling as she pointed at the pin on April's tie.

April wanted to cry,,she could feel the tears in her eyes,she rapidly blinked them away. She hadn’t meant to say the game was silly ,it actually sounded like a lot of fun,but what if she got told off for playing it or what if her dad found out that they were playing silly games like that.

April spent the rest of recess standing by herself. The rest of the morning went by quickly and suddenly it was lunch time,April took her lunch from home and followed the rest of her class into the canteen,kids in her class were walking over to find the friends that they had made and April looked around trying to find an empty seat. It was then that she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hi,I thought it was you.” the girl who April remembered was called Sterling said to her.

“Hello.” replied April.

“Sorry about my sister calling you a goodie two shoes earlier,do you want to eat lunch with us?” Sterling asked.

“Yes please.” said April, trying not to sound too eager.

Sterling led her over to the table and introduced her to everyone.

“That's Blair but you've already met her,that's Hannah S and Hannah G and Sarah and Lucy and Tobias and Malakai.” 

All the kids around the table smiled and waved.  
“I saw you in class but you were on the other side of the classroom.” said Lucy

“What's your name?”asker Hannah G

“April.” she replied smiling excited to be making new friends. 

“Cool ,well let's eat lunch quickly because I saw that there were jump ropes outside and i've been practising for ages to get really good .” explained Sterling.

The group of them ate their lunch and talked amongst themselves. The boys then said goodbye and went to the field to play with some of the other kids.

The girls spent the rest of their lunch break playing with the jump ropes.Some of the 6th grade girls who had be tasked with looking after the kindergarten kids came over and offered to hold the ropes whilst the girls jump,there was a lot of laughing and squealing as the girls jumped and tried not to get hit by the rope.April watched from the sidelines,it looked like a lot of fun but she didn't want to scuff her new shoes,they had been polished yesterday and it would be ashame to get them scruffy on her first day.

Blair came up to her.

“Why don’t you ask to go into the classroom and change into your sports shoes,before lunch Mrs Evan told the boys they had to do that if they were going to play soccer on the grass, so they didn't mess up their school shoes,I'm sure she would let you do it as well.” 

No sooner had the words left Blairs mouth the girl ran off to take her turn jumping,maybe the other girl was nice,even if she had made her want to cry by calling her a goodie two shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> (I'm not to sure how regular I will post chapters but I hope you enjoyed these chapters for the time being!)


	3. To watch and protect you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sterling gets a letter.

Chapter 3- To watch and protect you 

“Sterl honey,there's a letter for you.” Debbie said.

Sterling came down and took the letter from her Mom.

“I wonder who it's from,they must have hand delivered it.” Debbie said pointing to the fact that the letter just said her name and there was no address.

Sterling went back to her bedroom and opened the letter.

Wherever you go may God be with you xxx 

The letter read,just one single line but Sterling knew who it was from.She saw that there was something poking out of the envelope,she took it out.It was the guardian angel pin that Sterling had admired on April first time that they had met and had been very jealous of how pretty it was. She had almost totally forgotten about it, it was really odd timing especially as her parents were far from civil with April's family with everything that was going on. Sterling knew it was risky for her to be making contact at all, they hadn't talked in months because she hadn't been back to school and ever since April's father started making the allegations they had stopped going to their local church. But maybe things were changing since the women came forward about April's dad and people were releasing what kind of person he was, it would hopefully mean that her and Blair would be able to go back to school as people were starting realise the lies in what John had said.Although technically it wasn't all lies,Sterling wasn't about to confess any of that,when people had been coming round and were bringing food and apologising for believing gossip and lies. They were slowly being welcomed back into the community now that John held little to no power. Sterling took the pin and pinned it to her top. 

"oh honey that's a lovely pin,was it in the envelope?" asked Debbie 

"Yes it was," Sterling replied 

"Who was it from?" asked Debbie

"The note doesn't say" lied Sterling even though she knew who it was from. 

"Let me look." asked Debbie

She took the note and read it 

"Aw isn't that the sweetest thing,looks like you’ve got yourself a secret admirer." cooed Debbie.  
Sterling felt her cheeks blush.

"What's sweet and Who’s got a secret admirer? " Asked Blair as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Sterl, nice pin ,wait isn't it that.. ." said Blair 

"Blair why don't we go for a walk." said Sterling interrupting her sister. 

Blair looked at her sister with an odd stare. 

"Only if we can go get lunch,you never know maybe we'll bump into your secret admirer" Blair replied as a smirk appeared on her face.

"Have a nice time girls,don’t eat too much though because I want you to appreciate my cooking at dinner!" Debbie replied as she went back to cleaning the kitchen. 

“Mom we always appreciate your cooking,you're the best chef!.” smiled Sterling.

Debbie looked at Sterling.

“It’s not you I’m talking about.” Debbie said smiling.

“Look I've told you millions of times I hate mushrooms with a passion.So it’s not my fault that I was gagging last week,you made a mushroom pie,that thing was like 99% mushroom! I’m pretty sure if God created eleven plagues instead of ten the eleventh plague would have been mushrooms!.” Blair said, explaining her dislike for mushrooms in her signature over dramatic way.

Debbie rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Do you want to make your own dinners?” Debbie asked still laughing 

“No thank you Ma’am.” Blair replied 

“Well then you’ll just have to deal with my cooking then.” Debbie replied 

“All this talk of food,what's for dinner Mom?” Asked Sterling.

“I’m thinking of doing the chicken,mushroom and garlic potatoes that your father loves.” Debbie replied

“Jesus give me strength,not more mushrooms,I swear this family is going to start worshipping them soon.” Blair sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically.

“Blair ,language!The only worship we will be doing in this household is worshipping God,right you two better go get your food or you won’t have enough room left for the chicken,mushroom and garlic potatoes and the Key lime pie .” replied Debbie.

“You're making Key lime pie .” exclaimed Blair

Debbie nodded.  
“Yes.” the twins said in unison high-fiving each other.

“The meal is saved, you have redeemed yourself.” Blair said 

“Blair come on and my stomach is making noises.” Sterling moaned as she dragged Blair out of the kitchen towards the front door.


	4. Two days too long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of her first week of kindergarten April is upset at having to say goodbye to Sterling untill Monday.

Chapter 4: Two days too long 

A friendship had started to blossom between Sterling and April.April didn’t mind Blair that much. She was really fun to be around and she always managed to put her smile on her face when she was having a bad day. The three of them as well as the others that they had lunch with played together at recess that first week and then it got to Friday and the hard reality of not seeing her friends for the whole weekend set in and tears fell from Aprils eyes.April always tried to control her emotions but when she had emotions as strong as these it was impossible for her to control.

“I don’t want to have to wait till Monday to see you guys again.” April sobbed.

“It's not that long, it's only two days.” said Sterling.

“Two days to many.” cried April.

“It will go super fast because weekends always do,which is stupid really because I’d rather the week day go fast.”said Blair.

“Wait I just thought ,what about Sunday in church?” said Sterling 

April's face lit up,of course church. 

“But how do you know we go to the same church?” asked April.

“Maybe we’ve just got secret powers,super secret twin powers.” said Blair 

April looked confused.

“April,she's joking,Blair and I remember you from church on Sunday because you brought up the offertory.” Sterling explained.

They were right. April had helped to carry up the gifts to the alter the previous sunday.

“I’m really good at faces.” said Blair

“And you were wearing a really pretty purple dress with butterflies on it.” said Sterling.

“Girls come on or you will be late for swimming class.” the twins mom said.

“Bye April,see you sunday.” Sterling said.

“Bye.” smiled April as she waved goodbye to her friends

“They look like nice girls, who are they?” her mother asked, coming up behind her.

“Sterling and Blair Wesley,they are twins in my class.” April said as a smile beamed from ear to ear.

“How lovely.” April's mom replied.

“Mommy,do you think they could maybe come round for dinner next week afterschool,on a friday or weekend of course.” asked April.

“We will have to check with you father and then speak to their parents but I don’t see why not.” 

It was sunday morning and April had awoken early,she was excited to see her new friends again,she had missed them so much. She skipped into the kitchen where her mom was getting the bowls out for breakfast.

“Morning bunny,you seem extremely chipper this morning.” John said from his chair at the breakfast bar.

“I’m just excited about church daddy.” replied April.

“Well I’m glad to hear that.” he said 

“Eat you breakfast and then I’ll do your hair before you get dressed.” April's mom said as she poured cereal into April's bowl.

“Orange juice or apple juice with your breakfast?”asked her dad.

“Orange please daddy.” replied April with a smile on her face.

She ate her breakfast as fast as she could ,hopefully if they got to church a little early she would have some time to find Sterling and say hello,rather than having to wait till after mass. 

They arrived at the church and she stood outside as her parents chatted to some friends,she looked around trying her best to see if she could see Sterling and Blair,everyone was so tall and it was hard to see around,thats why she ate all her vegetables and never left any food on her plate so she would grown tall and big and strong like her mom promised her she would.

Then she heard a familiar voice.

“Happy sunday April.” Sterling said as she grabbed April into a hug,taking April by surprise.

“Be careful or you will crinkle my dress.” April remarked.

“Sorry,I didn’t mean to,anyway it’s a very pretty dress,I’m sure no one would notice if it had a few crinkles in it.They would be too busy looking at the pretty flowers” replied Sterling pointing to the blue and pink flower on April's dress.

“I like your dress too.” replied April

“Me too,watch when I spin it goes really fast.” Sterling span around and bottom of the dress span around her and she giggled and laughed as she span.

“Mommy wanted Blair to wear the same one but she made a huge fuss at breakfast.” laughed Sterling.

“We might be twins but we aren’t the same person plus I like this one better.” explained Blair as she pointed to the dress she was wearing.

“Imagine if we were,two Sterlings or two Blairs would be really creepy.” Sterling giggled 

“Bye April,see you in children's liturgy,you can sit next to me.” said Sterling.

April smiled and waved goodbye.

“Who are they bunny?” asked John 

“That's Sterling and Blair,they are twins and they are in my class at school.” April explained 

“Well they seem lovely.” replied Aprils mom 

“What's their surname?” asked John 

“ It’s Wesley daddy.” April answered smiling as she looked up at her father.

“ Ahh Anderson's kids,good guy Anderson, I play golf with him sometimes at the club.” responded John .

With that the doors to the church opened and people began to file into their seats.


	5. Fresh Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being forced to uproot her life,April is not looking forward to having to start at a new school.

Chapter 5: Fresh start.

Her parents didn't want her staying in touch with Hannah B and Ezequiel. She could lie and still talk to them anyway,but she didn't have any energy left inside her to lie to her parents,she was already lying about so much and it was getting to the point where the lies were sure to unravel if she tried to lie anymore.

So she deleted her old instagram account and got a new sim card for her phone, she was ‘starting a fresh, turning over a new leaf away from lie spreaders’ as her father said, if her father was innocent,why did they leave the only place she knew as home? However,she saw it as ‘burying the last shreds of joy that she had in her life.’

April looked in the mirror at her new uniform,she hated it already,she hadn't been to the school yet and she knew she was going to hate it.Who started at such a random point in the year?people were bound to have questions that she didn't have the energy to answer. She was going to have to start from scratch, the reputation she had built up at Willingham was gone,luckily most of the classes she was taking were pretty similar to the ones she had been taking at Willingham. April wouldn't let her grades slip,it was the one shred of dignity that she felt like she had left,her academic prowess,but she felt so totally and utterly alone. 

She was kind ,she was smart and she could do anything,the phrase she would utter to herself in times of need didn’t possess the usual empowerment that she so desperately needed. She was angry ,she was scared and there was nothing she could do about it,apart from ride it out and hope the feeling subsided. April took one last calming breath,picked up her bag and went downstairs to eat breakfast.

“Morning honey,I can make you some eggs if you like?April's mom asked.

“It’s alright i'm just going to make some toast.” April replied as she went about putting the bread in the toaster. April was glad that her father was out at his new job because she didn’t feel like having to play the perfect daughter.

April finished her breakfast and then went to leave the house for school.

“Aren’t you going to take your car?” Aprils mom asked

“I’d rather walk.” replied April,she wanted to walk to clear her head before the day started,the distance wasn’t as far as it had been from her house to Willingham.

April walked the route to school,looking around her as she walked,she had only been there for a week,but she was counting down the days that she could move away to University and not have to come back,that would be her motivation to do well, the freedom that leaving home would bring her.

April walked up the school gates,the feeling that she knew well started to rise and her stomach felt like it was doing back flips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and hope you are enjoying so far!Sorry that this is a rather short chapter,but there's plenty more to come that will hopefully make up for it!


	6. Stage Fright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first grade nativity and April is worried about messing up and Blair and Sterling try to convince her that she won't mess up.

Chapter 6: Stage fright. 

It was the night of the 1st grade nativity performance and the whole of their first grade class were behind the stage in the classrooms getting ready to go out and perform.

“Remember everyone, big smiles and don’t get nervous,I’m sure all your parents are going to love to see how hard we have all worked.” their teacher said.

“Are you ready?” another teacher asked.

The children nodded eager to get on stage.

“I really wanted to be a wiseman,It would be so cool to hold that gold or the frankincense or the myrrh but I guess an angel will be just as cool because they can fly and who doesn't want to have a super power and be able to fly” sighed Blair.

“You can't be a wiseman ,wise men are boys, you're not a boy.” Said Lucy 

“You wouldn’t want to be a wise man anway, Samuel picks his nose all the time and flicks his boogers around the classroom.” replied Sterling.

“And James never washes his hands after he's been to the toilet which is gross.” laughed Tobias.

“Ew Tobias that's disgusting.” said Blair 

The others were called away to go to take their seats and it was just April,Blair and Sterling from their friendship group left.

“Are you alright April,you’ve be really quiet all afternoon.” asked Sterling 

“Yeah you’ve usually got something to say about everything.” said Blair, who was genuinely worried but it had come out sarcastically.

Sterling shot Blair a glare as if to say ‘now is not the time’.

April's eyes filled with tears.

“Hey whats wrong” asked Sterling 

“What if I mess up.” April said.

“Don’t worry,it’s just our parents watching, they won’t mind if you mess up, just keep going.” comforted Blair.

“Remember Mr Brayton said you were the best narrator out of them all.” Sterling said, giving April a hug.

“What if I freeze on the spot and can’t remember what I have to say.” worried April

“Have you forgotten the words before?”asked Sterling.

“No.” replied April

“See then why would you forget them this time.” reasoned Blair.

April shrugged.

Sterling handed April a tissue.

“Plus you’ve got your lucky Angel pin to protect and look after you.” Said Sterling pointing at the angel pin that was pinned to April's collar of her dress.

“You can do it, I believe in you.” said Sterling and Blair in unison.

“Just think when it's all over we can get some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies in the canteen.” said Sterling 

“My tummy is already rumbling.” replied Blair

Time came for April to speak her part of the nativity story,she glanced over at Sterling who smiled at her,April took a deep breath and read her part and she didn’t forget one single line and afterwards her mom told her she thought she read beautifully and her dad patted her on the head and told her she had done a ‘good job’.

’Good job’ April would eventually come to learn, would be the closest her father would ever come to telling her he was proud of her or thought she had done well in something,but at seven years old she was just glad that her parents liked the play.She spent the rest of that evening drinking hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and giggling with April and Blair. 

April was glad that her father was across the room talking to one of his friends from the club because he would probably have told her ‘to behave’ or ‘stop acting silly in front of other people’ but she couldn’t help it .Blair had this power to say almost anything and make Sterling laugh,sometimes April felt as though the twins must have this ability to talk to each other without anyone else knowing because they always seemed to have these inside jokes that no one else quite understood.April would never admit it but it sometimes made her a little jealous that the twins had inside jokes and that Blair could make Sterling laugh in a way she could not. Then Sterling would laugh her infectious laugh and a few seconds later April would also be laughing and the feelings of jealousy would drift away as the feeling of contentment filled her body and the three of them laughed and giggled until they clutched at their stomachs.


	7. Gone without a trace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sterling returns to school to find things are not as they used to be.

Chapter 7: Gone without a trace.

Sterling was looking forward to going back to school.It had been a month since she had been at school and she had missed it.It would be nice to finally be able to socialise amongst her peers without getting scathing looks from them.Sterling wondered how April was coping at school with the looks she was now probably getting with everything that had happened with her father.Sterling knew what is felt like to be judged and whispered about by everyone around you and she hoped April was alright,they hadn’t been able to speak to each other in months.Sterling had been wrapped up in her own family drama and then the accusations about April's father surfaced. 

“Blair, hurry up in the goddamn bathroom.” moaned Sterling banging on the door.

“Sterling language.” Scolded Debbie as she came up the stairs.

“Sorry mom, it's just Blair has been there for ages!”said Sterling as she motioned to the door that she had just been banging on.

“Look it’s my big return to school,I've got to look my best” Blair replied as she came out of the bathroom.

Sterling rushed into the bathroom so that she could get ready for school.Once they were both ready,the girls then headed out the door to school.

“Have a great day girls.” Debbie said as waved them goodbye from the porch.

They arrived at school.

Blair turned towards Sterling.

“Sterl,don’t ever forget how much I love you,my heart is your heart and your breath is my life.” Blair gushed 

“I love you too, you weirdo.”laughed Sterling as she pulled Blair in for a hug.

“Not as much as I love you.”replied Blair

“So you’ve suddenly developed a way to measure love now have you?” questioned Sterling.

“Yes it's called the Blair Wesley scale of love…” explained Blair.

“Wow, such an original name!” smiled Sterling.

“But aren’t all things named after their creators,?” replied Blair.

“I guess.” Sterling responded shrugging her shoulders.

“Anyway, I can measure your love using the Blair Wesley scale of love and i’m sorry to say your love for me came in just below my score of love for you.” Blair explained.

Sterling rolled her eyes and slapped Blair on the arm.

“Oww what was that for?” Blair wined.

“It was the Sterling Wesley slap scale and my detectors told me you deserved an arm slap.” replied Sterling.

“Hey,you can’t just make up scales because you're jealous of my love scale!” replied Blair.

“I’m not making it up, it's a legitimate scale,look it up in the scale weekly magazine.” laughed Sterling.

“What on earth is scale weekly.” Blair said with a puzzled look on her face.

“It’s a weekly magazine that updates people about all the scales that have been created that week.” Explained Sterling as she tried to stop herself for bursting into a fit of giggles.

Blair punched Sterling in the arm as she said “I formally create the Blair Wesley punching scale.”

This caused Sterling to then slap Blairs arm and the two of them got into a punching and slapping fight in the middle of the parking lot.

Ellen walked over to them but they were too focused on their slapping/punching fight.

“Nice to see you both so chipper and eager to start the day,better put some of that energy into learning and you’ll be set for a super day.” Ellen remarked.

“Morning Ellen.” the girls said in unison.

“Come follow me girls and we can sort out your time tables and lockers.” Ellen said beckoning for the girls to follow her.

Sterling settled into being back in school and she was surprised to not have seen April any where.So she decided to speak to Hannah B and Ezequiel to see if they knew where she was.

“Hey do you guys know where April is,is she sick I haven't seen her all day and it's not like her to miss school?” asked Sterling.

Hannah B tilted her head to the side and studied Sterling expression.

“Guess she hasn’t messaged you either.”she sighed .

“What.” replied Sterling confused.

“Her whole family moved like two weeks ago,did you not hear about it?” replied Ezequiel

“No, I had no idea.” replied Sterling who was utterly shocked.

“Yeah her parents told her they were moving,they literally gave her no warning and she didn't even really get to say a proper goodbye and she promised she would keep in touch.” Hannah B explained with a sad tone in her voice.

“Don’t worry I’m sure she's super busy,she will message us soon.” Ezequiel said trying to cheer Hannah B up but he knew deep down that the fact they hadn’t heard from her in two weeks probably meant that her father had even more control over her life that he had had previously.He just hoped that when was she free from her parents control that she would get in touch with them again regardless of how many years it had been,he would always have a place in his heart for her.

“ I hope so because she never breaks her promise.” Hannah B replied.

Sterling stood there trying to process what she had just heard,April was gone.

“Sterling,are you alright you look like you've seen a ghost.” Ezequiel said.

“Erm,I think I’m just hungry,you know using all...that brain power it’s kinda...exhausting.” Sterling gabbled and she tried to string together a coherent sentence.

“Oh here have an oreo.” said Hannah B offering Sterling and oreo. 

Sterling took one “Thanks.”

Sterling turned away to go and find Blair.

“Hey,Sterling if you need any notes on anything to catch up just let us know.” Ezequiel said.

“Why would you want to help me?” Sterling asked,she was convinced that April had poisoned them against her.

“It’s just a nice christian thing to do.” Hannah B smiled as she took a bite out of her apple.

“Because it’s something April would have done.” Ezequiel replied,giving Sterling an all knowing smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	8. Tears and Kind vibes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April finds the courage to confront her father but things don't turn out well, but the night doesn't end in total disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy.I am aware that it is a rather long chapter,I had considered splitting it up into a few shorter chapters but I actually enjoy reading long chapters so I thought I would leave it as it was,plus this was probably one of my favourite chapters to write so far!!

Chapter 8:Tears and kind vibes.

It had been five weeks of her new school and April hated it,she hated every second of everyday.She sat through classes and did the assignments to maintain her grades, but she was still angry with her parents that they had totally uprooted her life.She was a rule follower that was just the way she had been raised to follow rules and do what was asked of her,but now she found herself five weeks into her new school and she hadn’t joined a single extra curricular activity.Her parents had already completely ruined her life and she didn’t feel like anything could get worse. She hadn’t really made any friends either,she hadn't really had that many friends at Willingham she knew she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with  
that,but at least she had Hannah B and Ezequiel. 

April was fine with sitting by herself at lunch,she would eat her lunch and read through the book she was reading.

“Is it any good?” a girl said .

April looked up from her book.

“Pardon?” April said.

“That book is it any good.” the girl asked again.

“I like it so far.” April said looking back at her book.

“Your new right.” the girl said.

“Yes.” replied April not looking up from her book.

“How do you like it so far?” the girl asked.

“It’s fine.”April replied, starting to get annoyed that the girl kept asking her questions when she thought she was making it obvious that she just wanted to read her book and eat her lunch in peace.

“Have you joined any clubs.? the girls asked.

“No.” replied April bluntly

“I’m sure you will find something that you like,there tonnes of stuff to get involved with” the girl replied.

“Yeah sure.” April replied. 

“Anyway I’ve got to go to journalism club as the next issue of the school paper is due in a few days.” the girl replied.

She walked out of the cafeteria.

April continued to read her book for the rest of lunch without being bothered by anyone which she was grateful for. 

When April got back from school she knew something was up when she opened the door to find both her parents in the kitchen,usually her father wouldn’t be home until later in the evening.

“April honey come and sit down,we need to talk to you.” Aprils Mom said 

April knew this wouldn't be good.

“April how are you finding school?” her dad asked.

“It’s good thank you ,I like the lessons and I’ve managed to keep up with all the work.” replied April 

“That's good to hear.” replied her mom.

“What extra curricular clubs have you joined?You could become debate champion at this school as well,not many people would have that to write on the college applications.” her father said. April knew that her father being her father already knew the answer to the question,he never asked a question unless he already knew the answer to it,that way he could always be correct.

“I haven’t joined any?” April replied 

“Why,honey,there must be something that you like,what about Debate or young republicans?” her mother asked.

“I’ve just been trying to make sure I keep up with work.” replied April.

“Well you’ve been at the school five weeks,you need to join something so that you have things to write in your college applications.” her father said, starting to get visibly annoyed.

Then April did something that in her sixteen years of life she had never once done before,she talked back to her father.

“Well maybe if you hadn't made me move,I would have plenty to write about.” April replied, shocked at the words that left her mouth,but it was too late she could take them back.

“Pardon,young lady.” April's father said, raising his voice.

“It’s your fault we had to move, If we stayed I would have plenty to put on my college application forms,you didn't ask me if I wanted to move,we just up and moved,you didn’t even ask my thoughts.” April stated.

“I am your father and what I say goes,do you understand me,I know what's best for this family.” John said.

“What's best for you,you mean.” April replied 

April's mom looked at her pleading for her to stop.

“Are you going to let her speak to me like this?”John said to April's mom.

“April,you know we don’t tolerate this kind of defiant behaviour,you need to go for a walk and think about how you’ve behaved and then come back and apologise to you father because after everything he does for our family you should be grateful.” Her mom said.

“I won’t have my daughter speak to me with such a lack of respect,we have raised you better than that.” John said as his face turned a shade of red with anger.

April walked out of the kitchen,she grabbed her phone and purse and headed out the door trying her best to stop the tears from falling.However,she got the end of the driveway and they started to fall,she could taste the tears falling down her face into her mouth.She didn’t really know to go,there wasn’t many place in the town that she went to,she spent most of her time on her room and only really left to help her mom go grocery shopping or go to church.

She walked towards the grocery store deciding that she would buy herself some chocolate to cheer herself up.She probably should avoid the house for a few hours until her dad calmed down,he would probably go out to meet some of his friends from work as he normally did on a friday.

She headed into the grocery store and picked up a few bars of chocolate,she took a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her eyes.

“Hey fancy seeing you here!” a voice said 

April turned around ,it was the girl from the canteen.

“Hi” responded April, surprised trying her best to gather her emotion and not let it show that she had been crying.

The girl looked at April.

“Are you alright?” the girl asked.

“Yeah I just had an argument with my parents...sorry I don't know why I’m telling you this!” April said.

“It’s fine,I know what it's like to argue with parents,I'm the third child of six ,I’m always arguing about not being as clever as my older brothers and not always having to be a role model for my sister.” the girl said.

“Oh I’m Jeni by the way.” Jeni smiled

“I’m April.” April replied.

“Well nice to meet you properly.” Jeni said.

“I’m sorry about earlier in the cafeteria.” April apologised.

“It's not a problem,I get it starting a new school mid way through the year is hard and I’m a very chatty person, I just thought i'd be nice ,you seem like a nice person.” Jeni replied.

“How do you know what I'm like?”April questioned 

“We actually have five classes together.” Jeni laughed 

“Oh sorry I didn't realise .” April apologised,embarrassed that she hadn’t noticed.

“You haven’t really tried to make any friends have you?I mean that's fine some people like being alone and that's perfectly alright.I just would hate to think you were lonely.” Jeni replied

“Thanks that's very thoughtful of you.” April replied 

“If your not doing anything,I’m having a BBQ in like an hour and you'd be welcome to come,thats why i've come to the store to buy some supplies,” Jeni asked

“Are you sure...you just met me today and I wasn’t exactly nice to you.” April said confused 

“I’ll take that risk,you seem like a nice person ,you give off kind vibes.” Jeni said.

“Oh ok,thanks.” April said.

“Plus you can give your parents time to cool off.” Jeni said.

“Won’t your friends mind that some random girl has tagged along.”questioned April

“Not at all,they are always up for meeting new people plus we need some new people.People are starting to tell the same stories about family dinner parties,there's only times you can hear about Alice's nanas pumpkin pie story,or the story about Issac dropping the Holy water all over the floor of the church and causing the pastor to go flying across the room.” Jeni laughed

April smiled.

“If you want ,if you don’t mind waiting till I grab some supplies i'll drive us both to my house.!”Jeni explained 

“That would be great thanks..are you sure don't want me to bring something.”Asked April

“Yourself if fine.'' Jeni smiled as she put bars of chocolate into the cart.

April helped Jeni load her car with the bags,maybe this town wasn't so bad after all.

Meeting Jeni's friends was surprisingly enjoyable.

Alice and Liv talked to April getting her caught up on the school gossip,it made April laugh that no matter where she went schools always seemed to have the same gossip.

Issac was clearly the clown of the friendship group,at one point almost had his shirt set on fire because he was leaning over the BBQ.

Matt and Rory ended up having a competition to see who could eat the most amount of salted crackers without any water and it ended up with them spluttering crackers all over the garden,which Jeni’s two labradors were very grateful for and ate up all the crumbs they could find.

Rose, who was Rory's twin sister had made the desserts that sat in the fridge and told her all about the baking club they had at school and how she wanted to be a chef.

All in all it was a great night she chatted with everyone and they all seemed like people she could be friends with and for the first time in weeks April managed to forget how much she hated her parents even if it was only for a few hours. 

April watched as Jeni and Rose brought out the deserts after they had all finished the BBQ,Rose set the tray of brownies on the tables and next to it Jeni placed some cartons of ice cream.

“Jeni ,why is mint-choc chip even here?” Matt asked.

“I just wanted to get a selection of Ice cream so people don’t fight over it.” said Jeni

“But no one likes Mint choc chip.” replied Lily, motioning to her mouth and fake gagging.

“Well I like it so deal with it .” said Alice

“Who the heck would willingly eat chocolatey tooth paste?” asked Matt.

“For the billionth time it does not taste like toothpaste,those two mints are like worlds away in terms of flavour.” explained Alice.

“Why have mint and chocolate when you could just have the superior chocolate.” Said Rory.

“Or better yet cookie dough.” said Issac as he opened the cartoon and dug his spoon in.

“Or just stick with vanilla.” added Rose

This comment caused everyone to turn to look at Rose in disgust.

“Ew no.” replied Alice.

“How basic.”laughed Lily 

“How are we even related.” replied Rory.

“Look, it's a classic and plus it goes best with brownies.” explained Rose.

“Hey April you’ve been quiet,whats you view?” asked Jeni 

“My view on what?” April questioned 

“On Mint chocolate chip ice cream.” Jemi replied

“I actually really like it,it’s not as good as butter pecan but it's still pretty good.” April replied.

“Victory,see I knew she looked like a sensible kind of person,now if you heathens don’t mind me I’m going to take my mint choc chip ice cream and share it with April and you can all have a nice time missing out on the best ice cream ever.” Alice said as she flicked her long hair in a comedic fashion and walked towards April holding the ice cream cartoon and two spoons.

Jeni’s younger sisters were the sweetest they were 6,9 and 11 and spent the evening bouncing on the trampoline and Jeni’s parents were lovely and welcoming they told her all about the clubs within the local community and told her to tell her mom about the women's charity fundraising club that her mother was ‘most welcome to join’. 

Jeni dropped her April back at her house.

“Thank you for a great evening,you were all so welcoming.” April smiled.

“No problem,I’m glad you had a good time,I hope they weren't too much,sometimes they can all come across a little too strong.”Jeni said motioning to her friends.

April smiled.

“I’ll text you and you can join the group chat if you want?”Jeni said.

“Thanks that would be nice.” April replied as she wondered why Jeni was being so nice to her when she hadn't done anything to deserve it.

“I have to warn you though Rory and Liv like to send a lot of memes,we’ve put them on a limit but they still send way too many.”laughed Jeni.

“I’ll see you at mass on Sunday right? If you want to help with anything like the readings or the youth ministry just come fifteen minutes before mass starts and we can sort it,Pastor James is very enthusiastic about new people helping a few of us will be there early so don’t worry about not knowing anyone,but you seem like a pretty confident person.” Jeni replied 

April walked towards the front door of her house and used her set of keys to open it,her father still wasn’t home but her mother was in the kitchen.

She came over to April and hugged her .

“Don’t you ever forget how much I love you.”she said.

“I know mom.”April replied.

“But I expect better of you,don't disrespect your father like that again.”

“I know mom, I'm sorry,I should have held my temper.”

“Come on I think there one of those travel programmes on that you like,I made some muffins earlier if you want one,”

“I've already eaten quite a lot,I was at a friend's house.”April said, wondering if she could count them as friends as she had only known them for a matter of hours.

“I'm glad you've made friends sweetie”

“Me too.”April smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure whether April would actually every talk back to her parents and who knows what the consequences would be,but I wanted to write it like this to show how despite the fact April always seems to have control of her emotions by compartmentalising them,that she is only human and can sometimes let emotions get the better of her,I also wanted to make sure that her mother wasn't too harsh on her,she gets enough criticism from her father.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I'll see you next time.


	9. Easter Worship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on Sterling holding in her burp during Easter Worship.

Chapter 9: Easter worship 

“Sterling don’t you think you are eating your lunch a little fast.” April said as she watched the girl stuff the triangle of sandwich into her mouth in one go and she barely finished chewing when she stuffed some grapes in her mouth making her look like a hamster storing it’s food in its mouth.

“Yeah Sterl, why are you eating like a monster,if mom was here she would tell you to mind your manners.” asked Blair.

“Because Mr Benson wanted some helpers from each grade to help set up for Easter worship and I said I would help,but he wants us to help before lunch ends so I’ve got to his office in five minutes.” Sterling said.

“You're going to the principal's office! Uh oh ,you in trouble Sterl.” giggled Blair jokingly teasing her sister.

“But she's going for a good reason ,so she won’t get told off.” replied April

Blair laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Well If you finish early come back outside because it's our grades turn on the climbing frame and we are going to have a competition to see who can hold onto the monkey bars for the longest.” explained Tobias.

“That's obviously going to be Blair.” Said Hannah S

“She practises every weekend when we go to the park after gymnastics.” Sterling justified.

“But I’m stronger than her.” said Malaki 

“How do you know,I’m pretty strong.” said Blair.

“Oh April,did you find your parents if you can come to gymnastics with me,Blair, Hannah S and Lucy?” asked Sterling.

“I asked but he said that I can’t because it clashes with tutoring plus my saturday is already busy with tutoring and ballet and going for lunch at the club with my grandparents.” April sighed.

“Oh that's too bad, but I asked Miss Jane and she said you can start whenever,so when you become super duper clever and don’t need tutoring you can come.” replied Lucy.

“You’re already super duper clever,April,you got star pupil and magic mathematician three weeks in a row.” said Sterling, smiling at her friend.

April smiled,proud of her achievements and proud that Sterling seemed genuinely happy for her,some of the other kids in her class had seemed less than happy to have to see her be presented with the certificate at the end of week assembly three weeks in a row. 

Sterling continued to finish her grapes and pineapple and eat her cookie quickly,before running off to help the principal set up for easter worship in the church near the elementary school that they used for whole school worship.

When lunch was over they were all made to line up in their classrooms and walk quietly and respectfully to the church. Sterling was still over at the church,when she saw her grade and April she ran over to them and slipped into the line in between April and Lucy.

“How was the rest of….” said Sterling, but before she was able to finish her sentence she let out a tiny burp.

“See that's why you should have eaten slowly.” said April.

Sterling burped again a little louder this time.

“Shhhhh Sterling or you will get us in trouble.” April said trying to be quiet so that she wouldn't get told off by the teacher who was looking in their direction.

The teacher glared at them.April quickly glanced away and she followed Sterling into the seats in the church.

The rest of the mass went smoothly until the priest was doing his homily.

Sterling clasped her hand over her mouth.

Blair looked at Sterling quizzically,the pastor was currently reading his sermon so she dare not speak,luckily she didn't have to.

“You ok Sterl,because if you are going to be sick please be sick over Shaun Willams in front of us,because if your sick on April she will scream and if your sick on me I'll hit you so hard that you'll scream.Plus Shaun Willams isn’t nice, he told Lucia Brownlee that her new haircut looked like she had got it cut at a dog groomers.” said Blair through her twin connection.

“Didn't you say Lucia looked like poodle yesterday.”asked Sterling

“Erm yeah but not to her face.”replied Blair

“I'm not going to be sick by the way, I just ate too quickly and I need to burp.” Sterling explained

“Oh lord ,your burps are so loud ,you shouldn’t have eaten like a monster,maybe you should be less of goodie two shoes then and stop always offering to do stuff for other people because then you could eat lunch slowly and then you would have seen one of the older grade boys to a backflip off the balance beams on the climbing frame,he's in so much trouble but it was so cool to watch.” Blair exclaimed.

Mass came to an end and they were walking back towards their school.

April turned to Sterling looking concerned.

“Are you alright Sterling,you looked like something was wrong during mass,are you going to be sick or something because I can go and get a teacher or I’ve got a sick bag in my school bag if you can wait till we get back to the classroom.” April said.

“April why have you got a sick bag in your school bag?” questioned Blair.

“For occasions like this,you can never be too prepared.” April replied 

“No I’m….” At that moment a loud burp erupted from Sterling's chest causing the kids around her to burst out into laughter.

“Arlight settled down please,walk quickly and quietly back to class.” a teacher exclaimed.

“Pardon me.” Sterling said excusing herself like she had been taught.

“EW that's gross.” Blair said.

“It was pretty cool,have you tried learning how to burp the ABC’s.” asked Tobias.

“No,how do you do that,can you teach me?” asked Sterling.

“Sterling don’t be disgusting.” remarked April.

“Yeah Sterling, listen to mom and don’t be disgusting.” giggled Blair.

This caused April to glare at Blair.April would never understand how both of the Wesley twins always had the ability to get under her skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and sorry for the delay in uploading.


	10. How did we get here and what alternate universe are we in?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter carries on from when Sterling and Blair return to school to find April gone.Sterling finds herself becoming friends with Hannah B and Ezequiel.

Chapter 10: How did we get here and what alternate universe are we in?

It was finally lunch time and they had just come out of a creative writing class and Sterling had noticed that Hannah B had been extremely quiet in the lesson which was very unlike her,she's usually was the first person to raise her hand to share her ideas.Sterling had to hand it to Hannah B she was a really creative person,there had been countless occasions where she had her poetry or short story pieces publish in the school newspaper.Sterling always felt Hannah B was greatly misunderstood but she had never really had the opportunity to unwrap the layers of Hannah B because she was so close to April.Sterling had noticed that since the lockin and the fact that April had moved away Hannah B had become less like her normally bubbly quirky self. 

Blair had rushed off to go to a Lacrosse team meeting,so Sterling was left alone to eat lunch.

Out of the corner of her eye Sterling saw Hannah B quickly dash into the bathroom. 

Ezequiel stood there “Hannah,come out and talk to me.” he said.

Sterling found herself walking over to him.

“Hey Ezequiel,what’s wrong with Hannah B.” Sterling asked.

“She's just going through some stuff,and as much as I want to go in there after her ,I think it would give the school board an aneurysm.” Ezequiel explained.

“I’ll go and see if I can coax her out.” Sterling said.

Sterling walked into the bathroom.

“Hey,Hannah is everything alright?” Sterling asked.

Sterling heard a loud sigh from the bathroom stool. 

“I’m alright thanks for asking Sterling.” Hannah B said sounding like she had been crying.

“Are you sure?I know we aren't super close but I hate to see people upset.” Sterling explained.

Sterling heard another sigh.

“It’s April.” sighed Hannah B

“What about her?” asked Sterling, a little confused.

“She hasn’t replied to any of my messages,it’s been months and she hasn’t said anything at all and I’m starting to wonder if maybe I upset her or something,maybe she thought I was bullying her or something and so she moved away?”Hannah B said.

“I’m sure you didn’t do anything to upset her,plus April wasn’t exactly good at hiding when people annoyed or angered her was she?” Sterling reasoned.

“That's true,but she’s so hard to judge, like she hated you for years,like she always would tell us how much she hated you...oh sorry I shouldn’t have said that.What I mean is like suddenly overnight she didn’t hate you anymore.So maybe suddenly overnight she started hating me and wished we had never been friends and that's why she's not replying to my messages” Hannah B gabbled.

“She's probably just busy. I can imagine moving house and school is kind of stressful and you know April,she could tend to get a little over stressed at times.” Sterling said trying to comfort Hannah B.

Hannah B came out of the stall.

“I guess so ,she was always so busy with school and church stuff here,she's probably just super busy with all of that stuff at her new school.” Hannah B explained 

“Yeah,I’m sure she will text you when she's got a spare minute,but you know April she's always busy doing something!.” Sterling replied.

Sterling handed Hannah B a tissue.

“Thanks.” smiled Hannah B taking the tissue and wiping her eyes.

“Come on I think we better go outside,Ezequiel wants to make sure you're alright.” Sterling said as she opened the bathroom door.

The two of them walked outside.

“Han,are you alright.”Ezequiel asked, putting a comforting hand on Hannah’s shoulder.

“Yeah,I am,Sterling is a really good person to talk to when you're upset,surprisingly!” Hannah B replied.

“Surprisingly.” said Sterling confused 

“Well,it’s just April used to always be in such a grumpy mood when she talked to you,which is like super odd because you actually are a really nice person to talk to,you're a good listener,maybe that's why she started hating you less.” Hannah B explained 

“Ok,Han you only needed to thank Sterling and then leave it at that.” Ezequiel said laughing and mouthing sorry about her to Sterling,who had to try her best not to laugh.

“Hey Sterling,do you and Blair want to come and sit with me and Ezequiel to eat lunch?” Hannah B asked.

“That would be cool. I think Blair has got a lacrosse team meeting but I’d love to sit with you guys.”

“Yay.” smiled Hannah B.

“I just need to go to the bathroom ,but I’ll meet you in the canteen.''Sterling stated.

“Cool beans.” Hannah B replied.

“See ya soon.” Ezequiel remarked.

Sterling went into the bathroom and into the stalls and pulled out her phone. They weren’t supposed to use their phones on school grounds during the school day but this was something she had to do.

She composed a message.

Hey April,  
I totally get if you're ignoring me but please can you message Hannah B she's been so sad lately and you guys were such good friends and now she thinks you're mad at her,so just message her to let her know you're still friends and that you're alright.  
(and I guess if you’ve got a spare minute you could let me know that you're alright but like If I had to get you to prioritise that's like the last thing on a long list of things you need to do).  
Xxx  
Sterl

Sterling push the send button and went to leave the bathroom,she felt her phone buzz in her pocket,she pulled out of her phone and stared at the message.

Error,Message unable to send.

That was that the Sterling thought,April had blocked her number and there was nothing she could do about it.

Sterling took a deep breath and put her phone back in her pocket and headed out into the canteen.  
As she entered she saw Hannah B wave at her.Sterling smiled,how had this happened and what alternate universe was she in? Sterling didn't want to get ahead of herself she was simply eating lunch with some fellow class mates, fellow class mates who had been friends with the person she had loved with every fibre of her being.She could be friends with Hannah B and Ezequiel,right? April had left,vanished from everyones life so did she really have claim over them anyway? Sterling tried to re gather her thoughts, it was just classmates eating lunch and she could be friends with anyone she wanted .God had given her free will and so she was going to use that free will to choose who to be friends with,it wasn't like she was going shopping or having sleepovers with them or anything.

Blair would often tease Sterling about this in the weeks to come when Sterling announced that she was going shopping with Hannah B and having a sleepover at her house.

"Sterl you've been friends with her for like two weeks and your already buddy-buddy with her." Blair said

"Hey Blair,I can be friends with who ever I want." Sterling replied hurt.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist Sterl,Hannah B's cool we sit next to each other in art,she actually hilarious shes renamed every single colour of paint that we have in the supplies cupboard and refuses to call them anything else,it drove Mr Raymos mad when she kept asking for the chickenbabysunshine and Ezequiel's eye rolls are the only thing that get me through government and politics!" Blair laughed.

Sterling smirked.

"I'm glad you like them,and I hope you're not mad that you weren't invited to come shopping but I know how much you hate shopping,there's plans to go bowling next week end." Sterling said

"It's fine you go have fun Sterl and if I'm as good at bowling as I am at everything else I do in my life,I stand good chance of getting a strike every time." Blair laughed.

Sterling rolled her eyes and slapped her sister.

"If you get cocky,I'll uninvite you!"


	11. Permanent marks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April goes to get a tattoo in college and stumbles across some familiar faces.

April couldn’t actually believe she had done it,she had spent months mulling over the idea and then finally the other day she found herself putting the number into her phone and calling the tattoo parlour.It was something she had been considering for a while nothing to big or wild,just something small and meaningful. Ever since going off to college her parents had far less control over life.She remembered the lectures she got from her mom about her body being a vessel for God's love and how she shouldn’t tarnish something so precious.She remembered having to plead with her dad to let her get her ears pierced for her 10th birthday.Her mom said yes as long as she wore sensible,delicate and respectable earrings, but her father was adamant that she wasn’t allowed. It took a twenty minute presentation from her about why she thought she should be allowed to get her ears pierced followed by a three page report in which she asked questions to everyone she could at church to see at what age they had their ears pierced,needless to say her argument was very convincing. Ear piercings could close up but tattoos were permanent in her parents eyes, she’d love to see her dad's reaction knowing that she was going to get one,but he didn’t have a say in her life anymore so his opinion was irrelevant.

She knew what she wanted just a small simple cross on her wrist,she wanted something that meant something to her and nothing meant more to her than her faith and she wanted to permanently be reminded of it.Almost like a permanent version of the guardian angel pin her mom had given her on her first day of kindergarten and she wanted something special to commemorate her last year at College.

Walking into the shop a few days later April had butterflies in her stomach. She let them know she was there for an appointment and then sat in the waiting room chair. She flicked through a magazine that was on the table in front of her.

“Ow,ow,ow.” a voice said coming from one of the tattoo rooms

“Stop being a whiny bitch,this was your idea.” another voice said.

April's head snapped up,it couldn’t be,did she recognise those voices?

“Why couldn’t we have got something else?”the first voice said.

“Like what.” the second voice asked.

“I dunno matching shoes or something.”the first voice said 

“But shoes won’t last forever and do I have to remind you that this was your idea.” the second voice replied.

“I’m almost done.” the tattoo artist said 

“Well I’m going to go and pay if Blair keeps complaining,Sid,I give you permission to slap her.” Sterling said.

April definitely recognised these voices,it had been years she had heard those voices.

April watched as Sterling walked out of the room towards the front desk to pay,she looked the same but yet different and April couldn’t put her fingers on it.She saw April and did a double take.

“What on earth.” exclaimed Sterling.

“Sterl,ouch,ouch what's wrong,ouch?” Blair said in between the pain from the other room,

“What would you say if I said that April Stevens was literally right in front of me?” Sterling said in front of April as though she wasn’t there.

“I would say you better go to the hospital because the ink has gone to your brain.” replied Blair.

“All done.” Sid replied.

Blair got up and walked out to meet Sterling who was still standing on the spot staring at April.

“Sterling I didn’t actually think you were being serious,hold up I have so many questions, the most pressing being what the actual heck happened to you? And second of all what is Miss April goodie two shoes Stevens doing in a tattoo shop of all places?” Blair asked.

April stood there just staring at the Wesley twins.

“I second the second question.” Sterling said breaking the silence.

“I’m getting a tattoo.” April managed to say even though a lump had formed in her throat.

“Oh really I thought you were coming here to buy some paint and paint brush.”Blair teased.

“Is it your first?” asked Sterling

April nodded.

“Well let me know if you're as much of a wuss as Blair .” Sterling laughed.

“What about you,was this your first.” asked April

Sterling shook her head. “ It’s my fourth.” Sterling replied.

“We said we would get matching ones for our birthdays,so we settled on jigsaw pieces.” explained Sterling.

“ I had to talk Sterl down in size though,because she has a habit of wanting to be too extravagant.” laughed Blair.

Sterling bent down and lifted up her trouser leg to expose and tattoo above her ankle, a tub of frozen yogurt.

“It's very...unique.” replied April.

Blair laughed “That's almost as bad as our mom's reaction, which was Oh Sterl that's... interesting.”

“I don't dislike it ,I just don't think it could be something I could get done.” April replied.

“See that's where you differ from our mom,she hated it.” Explained Blair

“Well until I explained to her that it could be a tattoo of the devil.” laughed Sterling 

“She eventually came round to it once I explained to her I wouldn't get anything satanic,she pretty much accepted them.”

“Anyway enough about Sterl and her fro-yo tattoo,what are you doing here!” Blair questioned 

“I’m at college here.” April replied,as the conversation had gone on she felt calmer and more relaxed.

“No way,So is Sterl,what are you studying?”asked Blair.

“Law .” April replied.

“Cool,I’m doing Politics and international relations.” Sterling explained.

“I’m surprised you two haven’t run into each other,unless you've been lying to me.” said Blair glaring at Sterling 

“I swear to you I haven’t.” replied Sterling.

April's name was called for her appointment.

As April got up Sterling said “Hey April if you're not doing anything tomorrow night Blair and I are having an early birthday party on Saturday at my house before Blair goes back to College next week, you're welcome to come.” 

“Erm ,I'll see I've got a few tests coming up.” April replied

“Cool no pressure, it's super chill.” Sterling replied nonshalantly.

Sterling scribbled her number on a piece of paper and handed it to April.

“Up to you,if you find that you're free ,message me.” Sterling said.

April smiled and the three of them said goodbye.

It didn’t hurt as much as she had thought it might do,she came out to pay. 

“It’s alright it’s already been paid for.” the lady said as she handed her a piece of paper.

I’m hoping you weren't as much of a wuss as Blair because we’ve currently got a bet on that could lose me $25 and Sid is the one who's going to let us know if you were a bigger wuss than Blair,I mean it would pretty impossible to be,but who knows things change,I’ve certainly changed and I’m sure you have too.

Xx Sterl.

April smiled at the note,maybe she would see if she could move around some of her group study sessions and make time for the party.

April was getting ready for the party and she didn’t understand why she felt the way she did.Things were so different in her life she couldn’t be any further from her high school self.She was close to texting Sterling and coming up with an excuse as to why she could no longer come but that wasn’t who she was,she wasn’t one to back out of something she had agreed to do.

April had always been someone who felt punctuality was important but turning up early to the party of people she hadn’t seen in years with people she didn't know probably wasn’t a good idea. April called a taxi and gave them the address that Sterling had messaged her.She stood at the door using her free hand to knock on it,whilst she held the bag with the alcohol in the other hand.If her upbringing had taught her anything it was to never turn up to a party empty handed,although she didn’t think that this thought processes extended to alcoholic spirits. 

She could hear Blairs voice from the other side of the door as sarcastic as she had always been.

“That's fine Sterl,i’ll open the door to your house and let your friends in,I mean I could be letting random strangers in because I don’t know half of your friends.” Blair moaned.

The door opened.

“Who is it Blair,I don’t want you to let any randos in?” Sterling shouted from another room.

“Well it's one rando that I recognize.” Blair laughed

“What?”Sterling asked confused

“It's April Stevens!” laughed Blair.

April smiled and handed Blair the bag.

“Oh my God not only is it April Stevens but it's April Stevens with alcohol.” Blair exclaimed as she took the bag.

“Are you sure we are talking about the same April Stevens?” Sterling replied from the other.

“Sterl I don’t know what's real and what's not anymore.” Blair replied.

“Ok well don’t leave April Stevens/April Stevens 2.0, standing outside inviting her in Blair,moms going to be so disappointed in your party hosting skills.” Laughed Sterling as her voice got louder as she walked to the door.

“Hi come in and I apologise for Blair she never completed her second hostess badge at girl scouts.” Sterling laughed as she gestured for April to come into the house.

April walked into the house she felt her shoulders relaxing and the knots in her stomach uncurled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anyone who is still reading this,I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


End file.
